SHILLONG: People want to join the BJP because they appreciate the party’s work, but did not vote adequately for its candidate in the Shella assembly bypoll because they wanted to remain with the government.
This is how the saffron party has summed up its performance in the bypoll that saw its candidate Joshua Warjri garner only 742 votes to be placed fifth among the six candidates in the fray.
Incidentally, the BJP had only recently inducted around 5000 members into its fold from the constituency. The party on Thursday said that the people of Shella instead of voting for the BJP directly voted for UDP as they felt that they will be with the government only if they voted for the regional party.
BJP state president Shibun Lyngdoh said that people want to join BJP as they have seen that its performance and implementation of schemes is very good.
“But they did not vote for BJP because the state is being ruled by NPP and UDP,” he said. The BJP is also part of the ruling MDA.
According to Lyngdoh, the people of Shella thought that instead of voting for BJP directly, it is better to vote for UDP as the seat was retained by them and there was a sympathy wave as well following the death of veteran leader and party president Donkupar Roy that necessitated the bypoll.
The party was hoping for a repeat of the last Lok Sabha election when its candidate for the Shillong seat had secured around 5000 votes in the Shella assembly segment.
Talking about the poor performance of the Congress, Lyngdoh said that the Congress is an old party and they have a base in the state since they have ruled for long, but the younger generation does not feel comfortable with it as it is no longer in power.
